Grey Lady Down (1978)
Grey Lady Down (1978)
Grey Lady Down
An aging, respected commander Paul Blanchard, played by Charlton Heston, is on his final submarine tour before promotion to command of a submarine squadron (COMSUBRON). Surfaced and returning to port, the submarine USS Neptune, is struck by a freighter in heavy fog, and sinks to a depth of 1,450 feet (442 meters) on a canyon ledge above the ocean floor. A United States Navy rescue force, commanded by Captain Bennett (Stacy Keach), arrives on the scene, but Neptune is subsequently rolled by a landslide to a greater angle that does not allow the Navy's Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) rescue submarine to complete its work.
A small experimental submersible, Snark, is brought in to assist with the rescue. Snark is very capable, but run by a nonconformist U.S. Navy officer misfit, Captain Gates (David Carradine). The tiny submersible is the only hope for a rescue.
Ronny Cox plays Neptune's executive officer, scheduled to take over command from Charlton Heston's character; Ned Beatty plays Snark's second crewman; and Christopher Reeve appears in his first film role in a bit part that a sharp-eyed viewer might notice.
In the opening credits, footage of the real-life submarine USS Trout (SS-566), filmed specifically for Gray Lady Down, depicts the fictional USS Neptune. Gray Lady Down also re-used submarine special-effect footage and the large-scale submarine model originally used to portray the fictional submarine USS Tigerfish in the 1968 movie Ice Station Zebra to depict USS Neptune.
10 Mar 1978